Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.06.1987, Blaðsíða 6

6-ALDARAFMÆLISÁR, FÖSTUDAGUR 5. JÚNÍ 1987
Grund Lutheran Church
The Ladies Aid at Grund, 1908
Continued from Page 5
Flood," which was particularly bad
in the southern part of the settle-
ment. On one farm, the water rose to
the bed of a woman in childbirth, and
elsewhere there was extensive
damage. Even the most dogged
pioneer must have lost heart when he
saw his hard-won progress the
plaything of such bad fortume.
Isolation intensified these hard-
ships. When the New Iceland site
was chosen, it was in faith that before
long the railroad would reach the
nearby town of Crossing, the present
site of Selkirk. By 1880, thosé plans
had changed, and it was clear that the
nearest railway line would be Win-
nipeg for many years to come.
In August 1880, Sigurdur
Christopherson and Kristjan Jonsson,
two of the first men to explore the
New Iceland district, set out to ex-
plore land in the Tiger Hills district,
now the municipality of Argyle. They
had received a letter from Everett
Parsonage, who had been in New
Iceland and had since homesteaded
at Pilot Mound. He wrote en-
thusiastically about land in the south-
west, and the Icelanders were en-
couraged to consider a move. Many
of the séttlers wanted to remain in
Canáda, a country to which they had
already come to feel loyalty and
gratitude.
Sigurdur and Kristjan travelled by
rowboat to Winnipeg, by steamer to
Emerson, and then walked for three
days to Pilot Mound, where they met
Parsonage, who guided them north to
explore the country. There were no
other settlers in the area, except for
two men, A. A. Esplin and G. J.
Parry, who were living in a tent. The
visitors were impressed by the land,
and when Parsonage rode to the crest
of a hill near the present site of
Grund Church, he galloped back and
cried, "I have found Paradise."
At the Nelsonville land office,
Sigurdur Christopherson filed the
first homestead entry in the Icelan-
dic settlement of Argyle. He called
his farm "Grund,” which means
grassy plain. For many years this
farm was to be the centre of com-
munity life. Here, Sigurdur ran a
small store in the very early years,
and the post office at Grund for many
years. He and his wife, Caroline (nee
Taylor), who had been married by a
minister standing across the quaran-
tine line at Netley Creek during the
smallpox epidemic in New Iceland,
built a fine house at Grund which
was renowned for its hospitality. The
Grund farm was also the site of the
picnic grounds and community hall,
called Skalbreid. But this bright
future would cost Sigurdur years of
hard work, and he set himself to the
task that very first summer. After fil-
ing his claim, he returned to the site
and began his preparations for the
move the next spring. In return for
his help in building a log cabin, he
enlisted the help of Esplin and Parry
in putting up hay for the next spring,
and then he returned to New Iceland.
Meanwhile, Skafti Arason and
William Taylor (Sigurdur's father-in-
law) made the journey to Argyle to
select homesteads for themselves and
their friends, filing at the newly
opened land office in Souris. Two
other Icelanders, Halldor Anderson
and Fridbjorn Frederickson, had
driven 30 head of cattle from New
Iceland all the way to Parsonage's for
winter feeding, due to the scarcity of
fodder in New Iceland. These new
arrivals persuaded Arason to show
them the settlement site, and after-
wards, they also filed claims.
The next spring, in March 1881,
the first party set out from Gimli to
their new home in Argyle. The first
five settlers were Sigurdur Christoph-
erson, Gudmundur Nordman, Skuli
Anderson, with his wife and three
children, Skafti Arason, with his wife
and two children, and Bjorn Jonsson,
with his wife and five children. This
two hundred mile (322.6 kilometers)
journey was made mostly on foot,
travelling on the snow and ice, and
lasted sixteen days. They had five ox-
en to pull sleds, and on two of the
sleds were constructed rough
shelters, each with a stove, in which
the travellers huddled for warmth at
night. On 1 April, they reached
Christopherson's homestead site, and
the hay supply he had wisely put up
the summer before. By the winter of
'81-'82, there were eight families in
the settlement, and by the next year,
there were seventeen families.
Although pioneering in Argyle had
its share of difficulties — prairie fires,
hail, flood and drought — the site had
many advantages over the New
Iceland settlement. There were no
heavy woods to clear, and there was
good haying. By this time, the
Icelanders themselves had acquired
some farming experience, and as
time went by they were fortunate in
acquiring some very good Ontario
farmers as neighbours, whose help
was invaluable.
A factor of enormous importance
in the development of the communi-
ty was the early arrival of the
railroad, which came to Glenboro in
1886 and to Baldur in 1889. It
brought prosperity, the convenience
of nearby markets, new settlers and
supplies. Before the arrival of the
railroad, the farmers had to take their
wheat to Carberry, a distance of
about forty miles (64.5 kilometers), or
to Manitou or Brandon, fifty miles
away (80.6 kilometers). This meant
a three to four day trek, travelling in
a kind of caravan of several men,
their wagons, and their oxen.
The first decade brought a steady
flow of settlers, some from New
Iceland, some directly from Iceland,
and others from non-Icelandic set-
tlements in Ontario. Within ten years
the district settled. Sigurdur
Christopherson was very influential
in stimulating immigration from
Iceland, and he made several trips as
a Canadian immigration agent, en-
couraging his compatriots to come to
the land which he loved and in which
he had so much faith. Many im-
migrants took his advice, but that is
not to say that he was welcome in
Iceland. On more than one occasion
he was almost thrown into jail by
Icelandic authorities who resented
his attempts to lure the Icelandic peo-
ple from their mother country. But
many followed him, and by 1890,
there were about 700 Icelanders in
the Argyle district. Some had been
neighbours in New Iceland and in
Iceland as well. Both moves were
made from areas where conditions
had been the most difficult.
At last their efforts were rewarded,
for the settlement in Argyle pro-
spered. As early as 1884, Skafti
Arason was able to report on behalf
Continued on Page 7
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